From Health Spa to Field Station
Near Zzyzx, California
After the Bureau of Land Management evicted Curtis Howe Springer in nineteen seventy-four, the government faced a question. What do you do with a full resort, hotel, spa, and church, sitting in the middle of the Mojave Desert? The answer arrived in nineteen seventy-six, when the Bureau of Land Management agreed to let the California State University system run the site as a research and teaching station.
It became the Desert Studies Center, and it survives today as a university field station in the California desert. A consortium of Cal State campuses supports it, drawing students and scientists in fields like geology, biology, hydrology, and archaeology. They study the salt flats, the springs, the wildlife, and the fragile desert wetlands that made this spot valuable long before Springer ever arrived.
Springer's old buildings, once used to sell tonics and salvation, now house dormitories, labs, and classrooms. Public visitors can walk to the Lake Tuendae picnic area and nearby trails, but the working grounds of the center are generally reserved for reservations and guided visits. It is a quiet, fitting second act.
The place invented to be the last word in health became a place devoted to genuine study.
